16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Gospel Reading: Mark 6: 30 - 34

30 The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught.

31 Then he said to them, 'You must come away to some lonely place and rest for a while,' for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat.

32 So they went off in a boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves.

33 But people saw them going, and many could guess where; and from every town they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it before them.

34 So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length.

Meditation

Today's passage, like those of the last two Sundays, is an ac­count of the ministry of Jesus and contains several messages that are important for us today. We can feel free to identify with one of the three characters in the story:
- the apostles,
- the crowds.

Verse 30. Jesus highlights the contrast between two aspects of teaching:
- 'what we do,'
-'what we teach'.

These are two distinct realities and in our teaching we should re­flect on both. We need to share how we feel about things - within ourselves, with one another, and finally with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

What we teach must include how we relate to what we have experienced. The emphasis is usually quite different and does not reflect how we ourselves respond.

There are therefore two important conclusions. The words 'they returned to their mas­ter' remind us that we need to emphasise both of them in how we relate with Jesus.

On the part of Jesus, the passage is telling us that, like all good teachers, he wants us to look at the distinction we have made be­tween the two. As regards ourselves, we need to share both what we do and what we teach with him, our Divine Master.

Verses 31 and 32 . Jesus makes another distinction, this time between

1. our'teaching'
2. our 'going away to a lonely place' so that we can 'rest for a while

This resting' would include what we do on our own. These are the times when we know that no one is there to look after us or that we do nothing wrong. We all have to take time off for.

We take the verb 'eating' here in a very wide sense. It must include activities such as getting a good rest from our work, enjoying the good things of life. The fact that the apostles did not have time to eat is of course very significant. It means that the need to look after themselves has become very great. They must learnhow to find rest for themselves.

Verses 33 and 34 . Jesus' plan is thwarted by the people. The passage stresses that the crowd gathered almost by chance; the people came by accident.

And 'he took pity on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd'. This is very important.  We need to listen to what people are asking for.

We must respond to them, remembering that they don't have people around them who can give them training or leadership. They have no one whocan console them or give them a new direction to follow in their lives. And so he set himself to answer their great needs.

This passage stresses two important realities
- accommodating our need for rest, to get something to eat
- responding to the needs of others.

The passage also concerns 'the crowds'. We too can always expect that Jesus will be there to look after us. He wants to understand our needs and to respond to them.

We must make sure that our meditation is true to our experience.. We must not move to a conclusion too quickly. We will then find, by the end of the passage, that we have been really helped to understand our lives better.

Prayer

'The one who loves the community destroys the community; the one who loves the brothers and sisters builds community.'
Dietricii Bonhoffer

Lord, all of us work for people:
- at work we have school principals, heads of government, directors of firms;
- within our circle of friends there are those who organise functions;
- in the church community there are priests, choir leaders, youth group leaders.

We thank you that once in a way you send us someone like Jesus, someone who, when we speak about all we have done for the organisation, will notice that there is so much coming and going in our lives that we have no time even to eat, and will say to us that we must come away to some lonely place, all by ourselves, and rest for a while. Lord, we thank you that this is how you relate with us.

'God loves us too much to allow us to be satisfied and contented with mere images or signs of his presence.'
Abhishiktananda

Lord, prayer is that moment in our lives when we come into your presence to tell you all we have done and taught, and you see that with all the coming and going about us we are not finding time to be nourished ourselves; so you say to us that we need to come away to some lonely place by ourselves,
even if when we step ashore there is a large crowd waiting for us, there is no need for us to panic because eventually we will find that we can teach them at some length.

'The abbot is to temper all things so that the strong may still have something to strive after and the weak may not draw back in alarm.'
The Rule of St Benedict

Lord, great people are like Jesus
- they know that it is necessary at times to go away to a lonely place and rest for a while;
- but they know too that there are times when we have to forego our moment of rest because there are people out there who are like sheep without a shepherd, and we must take pity on them. Help us to be more like your shepherd.

Lord, you know how difficult we find it when we want to include our deep feelings into what we teach. We would like to include both but so often we neglect what we really believe because we are afraid of betraying the deep teaching of Jesus.

'The biggest mistake sometimes is to play things safe in this life and end up being moral failures.'
Dorothy Day

Lord, the world is so complex that we feel to run away from it, to take off in a boat where we can be safe.

Indeed, it is necessary to do that from time to time.
But that is dangerous too, because once we step ashore, we will see that a large crowd has gathered there, like sheep without a shepherd, and your will is that we should be like Jesus for them and set ourselves to teach them at some length.